The Mozilla Foundation has decided to found a new subsidiary to handle ongoing development of the Thunderbird mail program. The Foundation is dedicating US$ 3 m to the new subsidiary.

David Ascher will be the new CEO. Ascher has played an active part in the Mozilla community since the year 2000, the Foundation says. Ascher has been working for Active State, a company that produces software development tools since 2000, most recently as a developer and Chief Technical Officer (CTO). In 2001, he also became a joined the board of the Python Software Foundation, of which Active State is a member and sponsor.

Late July the Chairman of the Mozilla Foundation, Mitchell Baker, who is also the CEO of its subsidiary, Mozilla Corporation, asked the Mozilla community for feedback. This gave rise to fears concerning the future of the Open Source mail client.

The Mozilla Foundation has published its audited financial statements and tax form for 2007. Chairperson Mitchell Baker uses the event to review Mozilla's performance and despite the current financial turmoil, sees good prospects for the future.

Thunderbird is nearing its premiere. Not too much is new, but there are many changes. The first beta of the free mail client provides a faster search and better IMAP integration. Creating email accounts and managing addresses and the calendar should be more intuitive.